Traction devices for stretching the neck and spine are commonly used in hospitals, physical therapy clinics and other therapeutic venues. Typically, such devices apply a measured amount of force directed to decompress the spine and give relief from back pain caused by injury or degenerative effects. Specifically, they are used to treat disc bulges, disc herniations, facet syndrome, nerve impingement, spinal/foraminal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis in the spine, muscle spasm, tension headaches, decreased joint space, decreased range of motion and facet joint inflammation. Typically, the apparatus includes some type of sling or harness to cradle the head with pressure applied thereto by means of pulleys and weights, often involving fixtures to a bed or wall. Commonly, assistance from another is needed to setup the gear and monitor its use.
In the technology of non-surgical spinal decompression, one therapy of particular utility is that of Imbibition. Imbitition involves the gentle stretching and relaxing of the spine to foster hydration and blood flow to the spinal discs. Such action applied along the cervical spine can create a negative pressure in the center of the intervertebral disc. The negative pressure fosters a suctioning effect, or vacuum phenomenon, which reduces the size of a herniated or bulging disc's gelatinous internal nucleus pulposus. The technique diminishes, or eliminates, nerve compression, while an osmotic gradient is created thereby helping to bring nutrients and water into the disc. The intervertebral discs have poor circulation and depend upon receiving nutrition by diffusion across the end plates of vertebrae above and below.
The “pumping action” created by the stretching and relaxing occurs naturally in the healthy case with daily motions and body positions. In the damaged or degenerative case, however, this gratuitous pumping action may be reduced or lost with disastrous effect to the already-poor circulation. A non-invasive remedial therapy, therefore, is to re-supply the disks with nutrients and blood that help the disks heal from inside out. This type of therapy is preferably practiced on a daily basis; and, therefore, as a matter of practicality, must be free from an institutional setting. Hence, the need arises for portable traction devices that are readily at hand for unassisted use.
Portable traction devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,378 to Chitwood and U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,816 to Granberg. In both cases, a bed or platform supports a prone patient over a box frame housing a take-up apparatus. The take-up apparatus selectively applies tension to a head harness through an attached boom structure. The large frame members, such as the box, however, do not lend themselves to a compact configuration for storage or travel. It would be hard to imagine the Chitwood or Granberg device used in a hotel room on a trip, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,451,202 to Miller discloses an apparatus without the bed which can be disassembled for storage. The storage configuration, nevertheless, made unwieldy by one out-sized frame member, is anything but compact. In addition, Miller teaches an overhead control requiring the patient to lift one or more arms to reach and operate the control. The lifting of an arm, and particularly the upper arm, from its prone position at rest activates the back musculature. Tension in the back muscles is not conducive to the relaxing effect sought in Imbibition Therapy. Further, Miller applies tension through a ratchet mechanism that cannot be incrementally backed off without tripping a release and jarringly withdrawing tension. Preferably, in the case of Imbibition, the tightening and slackening are smoothly applied in incremental measure and without the patient feeling abruptness or discontinuity.
There is an unfulfilled need in the state-of-art for an easy-to-assemble traction device which can be reduced to a compact and travel-friendly profile, and which can be operated to apply tension optimally to the spine for Imbibition Therapy and for pain relief.